Theme Park Parking - Room for Improvement?

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 by Stef Faulkenberry
Okay, so lately I have been spending a rather high percentage of my time at the amusement parks of central Florida. The weather has been beautiful and I just like to get out and about...people watch so to speak. What amazes me though, is the parking operations at the different parks. For example, the Disney parks use manned lots to control parking. You pay your $14 fee to gain entrance to the attendant and follow the cones until you get to the designated parking row where several additional parking attendants guide you into your space for the day - ones even on a Segway (which I think is really cool, but...I digress). The same work flow happens over at Universal Studios with one exception, you get to park in a parking garage instead of having the sun beat down on your car in a lot. Other than that, everything is the same - okay no Segway here but everything else is the same.

So I guess what I am getting at is, aren't they even the least bit worried about having that much cash exchange hands without some kind of control? I mean, yeah most times I go through the gates, the parking attendant rings up the money in the cash register so there is no question. But I am sure there are times when it is busy that the cashier doesn't ring up a transaction, for the sake of saving time.  I think this would be a perfect location to have a parking management system. Maybe something like T2's PermitNOW (shameless plug inserted here!) I mean, in order for the parking permits to be printed, a transaction has to take place. So whether the customer is paying by cash or credit card, the parking attendant runs it through the handheld ticket writer and out comes a parking permit for the day. The beauty of this is, since payment has to be made in order to generate a parking permit, everything is trackable through the parking management software on the back end.

Well, seeing as Disney has been in business for a few decades, I guess they probably have this parking thing down, but I say, there is always room for improvement:)

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